


Underneath

by captain_shitpost



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap, Angst, Body Horror, Character Study, F/F, Guilt, I'm doing my own Underswap I know it's not canon, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 18:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14002353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_shitpost/pseuds/captain_shitpost
Summary: Undyne has been the Royal Scientist for years now. That's plenty of time to make mistakes.





	Underneath

She woke up with a start, like jumping into a river in winter. She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, blinking until her memory caught up to her, quick update to her location and what happened until that point. With a groan, she turned onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow. She remembered the slow, gentle drifts into wakefulness from her childhood, where she’d sit up in a daze until her mind started chugging along fast enough for her body to move, and then she’d spring out of bed, running around and playing and causing a havoc. A soft start to a good day.

She pushed herself up, adjusting her tank top with a yawn, then grabbing a hair tie and tying her hair up in a bun. These days she woke with a racing heart and pain in her jaw from clenching it all night and used her fraying determination to get out of bed. Sometimes she thought about staying in her room forever, pretending nothing bad was happening, that the only responsibilities she had were to munch on her shitty cooking and watch anime, texting Alphys about the plot twists and asking her about her day. But she was never the type to be still for too long-already her hands were itching, her lungs aching for her to move, to do.

She stretched her arms above her head with a satisfied sigh, then headed towards the kitchen to make some breakfast. Sea tea and reheated pasta, breakfast of the champions. She twirled the spaghetti on her fork with one hand while she scrolled through her phone with the other. Alphys posted a few new selfies with some of the other guards, covering them with glittery filters and cute stickers. Undyne snorted in amusement. Honestly, she could be so cute, and she always did admire how much she cared about her recruits. She worked so hard too-studied human battle tactics, asked for her help setting up cameras, trying her very best to catch the next human to fall. She knew how hard it was for her to even talk to people, but she still did all that. It was awe-inspiring, and Undyne felt a pang of both warm elation and guilt in her Soul.

With renewed vigour, she slammed all the dirty dishes into the sink and gave them a good scrubbing, ignoring the paint getting chipped on her favourite mug. She had work to do.

 

 

The pings of dog food hitting the metal dishes echoed through the empty corridors. Undyne knew they would come out when they realized food was here, as they did every day. Maybe not immediately, but she made sure nobody starved down in the dark. With a grunt she put the huge sack down, closing it before too much of the food spilled onto the dusty floor. She should probably wipe down the tiles, but the lab was huge and it would take a while. Maybe if she got pumped she could finish it in a few hours…

She felt a tugging on the edges of her lab coat, looking down to see a small white blob hanging on tight, the stark colour a contrast to the yellowing, old fabric. It wobbled for a bit before suddenly expanding into a mass of misshapen goop, condensing slowly into a multiped form with a gaping hole at the front. It wagged its tail, and Undyne grinned at the oversized creature.

“Heya, buddy! Ready for some grub?” she asked, giving it a few firm pats, brows furrowing a little at the way her hand sank through its body. The amalgamate barked, the sound deep and reverberating in a way a normal sound shouldn't, making her body feel tinny as it vibrated through her. She laughed. “I like that enthusiasm! Go get it!!!”

The amalgamate dug into the food, absorbing it with its body greedily while its face hole drooled freely. She watched its tail wag fast, spattering the white substance around. Her smile fell. One of the dogs that made it up used to give her dog treats when she was a baby fry. He smelled of dirt and warm fires and made the softest pillow when she fell asleep after a day of adventures. She used to play with his children when they were puppies, barely walking. She honestly thought she would bring him back. He was still so young when he fell down, many years of health and happy times in his body.

And now here he was, lost in a frenzy of other monsters, his form barely coherent and shut inside a dusty old basement. She just wanted to help.

She heard the distant clatter of the other amalgamates, the chattering reminding her briefly of the day they came to be before she quashed the memory. She sighed briefly, feeling much older than she really was. The kind of old her mistakes would never grow to be. She pet the amalgamate on the back, feeling its happy rumble in return.

“I’m gonna fix this. I promise.”

 

 

Papyrus was a strange one. She wasn’t completely sure how they ended up being friends - apparently a large skeleton waking you up in the middle of the night to explain to you why some part of your engineering article was wrong was a good basis for friendship? - but she was grateful for it nonetheless. Between her work and taking care of the amalgamates she rarely left the lab, and the occasional sleepover with the skeleton helped a lot.

He was intently watching a new anime Alphys recommended, full of flashy battles and cool fighting robots that made new theories run in the back of her head. He was curled up tight, hugging a pillow to his ribcage as his sockets widened and sparkled when the main character pulled out a particularly cool move. It was strange to see him like this-he always seemed so tired, like the lines under his sockets were etched into place from years of no sleep (seriously, how did this guy even survive with how little he slept???) and he always acted calm and aloof, like he was trying to be one of those cool, dark heroes from edgy comics. And then, every now and again, something would grab his attention hard enough for a light to shine through, widening his sockets and straightening his posture and making his voice rise from its usual forced, quiet drawl. For those moments he was radiant, like there was a small sun right in the Underground covered with a blanket of fake indifference, and every now and again the blanket would get knocked askew and she would feel its warmth. She saw his passion, his kindness, his love, and she wondered why he ever thought he needed to hide it.

She didn’t ask him about it. He would always give a non-answer, or in the cases she pressed on regardless he would abscond from the situation altogether and she was racking up a high bill for the window repairs, so eventually she got the message and stopped. She still wished he knew how amazing he could be, if he only had the courage and strength to be himself, honestly and without shame. Sometimes she wanted to tell him that.

Then she thought of the amalgamates, and instead she’d dig out an anime he might like or a piece of machinery he could tinker with and let the Sun shine through.

 

 

“FUCK, SHIT, GOD FUCKING-” she screamed, hitting the large machine with her spears until it dented, previously shiny metal ugly and broken. She threw her screwdriver against the wall, grabbing her head as she screeched through clenched teeth, letting out her frustrations. It took her several minutes to catch her breath again, hands planted on the broken hunk of useless metal. It’s not like it worked anyways, so who cared?

The silence of the lab was absolute, the depth and large, echoing hallways giving her the illusion that she was alone in the world. She wasn’t. She had so many people relying on her, so many monsters that she needed to save-

She banged the metal with her fist one last time, wincing slightly at the feeling of her bones grinding together. She shook it off and looked at the knuckles, relieved that the skin was intact. She figured this much abuse wouldn’t harm her, she’d been elbows-deep in machines since she was a small fry and her skin toughened accordingly, but it would be just her luck.

The machine refused to work. Her calculations were correct, she checked and triple-checked, but the machine still refused to budge. Different formulas, different materials, more DT - nothing worked.

When she stepped up to fulfill the vacant position of the Royal Scientist, the whole kingdom had high hopes for her. She would be the one to bring down the barrier. She would be the one to set them free. She would be the one to stop monsters from falling down, she would do it all, she would be a hero-

She heard distant skitters in the bowels of the lab, the amalgamates moving again now that her temper died down. They all knew not to come to close to her when she got like this. She frightened them sometimes. She turned them into what they were now, kept them here without a single thought as to their wishes or comfort, and then she frightened them.

She lowered her head into her hands. Toriel hasn’t trusted her in years, constantly blocking every damn plan she could think of that might help. Sometimes she wanted to chuck spears at her until she realized that sacrifices were necessary, that they’d never get out of this hole in the ground by protecting everyone. She grit her teeth as she went to fetch her screwdriver, cursing as she noticed it had rolled underneath a counter. She saw the end goal, and any price she could pay was acceptable when the price was freedom for their people. Toriel got so lost on saving individuals that she forgot their species was dying the longer they were underground. She forgave the humans that were the reason so many have fallen, the reason most of them had never even seen the sky, just a mountain away. She was a weak queen, and her weakness would be their ruin.

 _Maybe she’s right_ , a voice whispered, familiar and alien at the same time. _After all, look where your bravery got you and those you wanted to save._

Undyne bent down, hands pressing into the metal until it popped back into shape, still lumpy but not completely bent. She would have to visit the dump to find more screws.

 

 

Alphys was sleeping on her couch, chest rising and falling in a slow, even cadence. Her face was relaxed, a goofy sort of grin playing at the edges of her mouth as the pillow soaked up her drool. Undyne grinned at her, happy from the bottom of her soul. She knew how stressed Alphys got, commanding guards and trying to make order in the Underground when she worried about hurting someone every time she opened her mouth, and it brought a deep satisfaction to her Soul to know that this was a safe spot for her. A place where she could unwind and talk freely and bitch about her job, gush about the sweet anime she watched or the cute dress she saw in a store when she was going home from her rounds. Undyne somehow made her feel safe, and that was a precious thing.

She yawned, brushing her long red hear behind her fins to get it out of the way. She had no idea where he hairband went, so she blew at the hair tickling her face and got up to make her morning tea. She tapped the counter in an even, staccato rhythm, wondering if she could bypass a need for DT for her machine if she just made some modifications. The buzzing excitement over the beginnings of a new theory was growing in her, pushing her to move and grab a sticky note and a broken pencil until she realized she had tried to get that theory to work already several months ago and it didn’t help. She cursed under her breath. This is why she hated mornings.

With tea in tow she went back to the couch, looking at the sleeping lizard. Alphys was a deep sleeper, as a certain occasion where she slept through an entire house fire confirmed, so Undyne felt safe enough putting her mug on the coffee table with a click so she could pull the blanket, pooled on the floor, back onto her body. She even tucked the edges in, as if she were a worried mother chicken monster. She brought out gentle things in her, this girl, things she thought were utterly foreign to her and forever would be. Undyne never thought herself capable of it, but Alphys made her want to be softer, just for her.

Alphys’ glasses were still hanging halfway off her face, knocked askew in her sleep. Undyne took them off gently and folded them, putting them close enough to the couch that Alphys could reach them when she woke up. She chuckled fondly at the funny little snort she made before settling back down. She really was breathtaking.

She felt her cheeks warm, swallowing heavily. She didn’t know what to do. She used to be the kind of person to barrel into and through a situation, consequences be damned, but she could never risk hurting her friend. Besides, who was to say Alphys found her even remotely attractive? She could easily think of them as nothing more than friends, and with how much the lizard tended to overthink things and panic, if her advances got rejected she doubted she would ever talk to her again.

And who’s to say Alphys could stand look her in the eye if she knew what she was _really_ like?

She dug her nails into her palms, hard but not enough to harm herself. Alphys was sleeping so soundly, she wouldn’t even notice if she gave her a kiss on the forehead. That wasn’t taking advantage of her, it was a normal thing for friends to do even when awake, right? Just one little peck, like the ones she got when she was small. Feel the scales under her lips, let the warmth of the action feed her in the dark, chilly basement.

She turned around, searching the ground for her hair band. She had work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all I love Undyne and I would never forgive myself if I never wrote a single fic with the focus on her, so here I am. Also I have my own take on Underswap so I wanted to explore that too.


End file.
